I came back from Japan in April 2021, when covid was still happening. It was very hard to find a job, so I spent some months researching what I can do for people with disabilities. In July 2021, I decided to open an online business selling crochet products made by people with disabilities. I name the business Maru Amigurumi. At the beginning, we received some support from friends but then I realised we need to look for our own clients, so we decided to join as many bazaars as we can. We also run advertisements on SNS. Step by step, we didn’t stop at selling crochet but also art products. In 2022 we opened our first physical shop and have maintained it until now. Currently, we are creating jobs for 22 disabled people and their family members.

In the end of 2021, while doing the business I also looked for a new job at the UN. I was in charge of the UN disability inclusion strategy. My job gave me a lot of chances to work with Vietnamese government officers. I also worked closely with UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA.

Thanks to this job, I had a stable income to maintain our business and started working on independent living activities for people with disabilities around me.

Everyday working at the UN I used the bus to go to work, then I realised there were some new buses with barrier-free facilities but not many people know about them. I decided to make videos to introduce people with disabilities and encourage them to go out with buses.

Luckily my videos got millions of views on Tiktok and I got interviewed by the guardian and NHK. I also got many messages from people with disabilities that they wanted to go out more often after watching my video. Some foreigners with disabilities also emailed me saying that they wanted to visit Vietnam one day because barrier-free buses are available.

In 2022, I met some members of independent living activities who were very active many years ago. I shared with them that I wanted to rebuild independent living activities in Vietnam. I received their support very quickly and we decided to work together. I contacted the Mainstream Association in Japan and told them my ideas. Some members from the Mainstream Association decided to go to Vietnam to interview my group. After that, we had some more interviews until we could prove that we had the ability to run independent living activities for the Mainstream Association. It has been more than 2 years since the first interview and we finally got support to open an independent living centre in Hanoi. In 2023, I joined the Kokorozashi network meeting in Korea. In 2024, this August Kokorozashi members and many Japanese with disabilities came to Vietnam for the opening ceremony of the Vietnam centre. I am very grateful for the encouragement and support from Kokorozashi network. I will try my best to maintain our activities and bring independent living services to as many people with disabilities as possible.